the birth day of this blog

Was it really a year ago I tentatively dipped a toe in the blogging waters?

Yes! And what a year it's been ...with thousands of hits on the blog, hundreds of comments, virtual friendships  made with other bloggers from all over the world,  and quite frankly my dears, I've had a blast!

Here's the very first post
http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/thinking-of-days.html

I had no plan of what I would write....just documenting the world around me...things, people and places that interested me whether at home or at work.

One thing I did know was that I had to have music in every post...because , if this blog is a reflection of my world and thoughts...then you would have to listen to the soundtrack of my world too!

Working in radio, I write every day as part of my job and concentrate on sound, the interviews , the background noises, the atmosphere through listening.

But through writing this blog, I've learnt how to think visually too....and from being a complete ignoramus when it comes to taking photographs, I've become confident and enjoy snapping away on my i phone.

My most arty shot was unintentional though - i fell over!

http://thinkingofthedays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/day-of-snow-and-birds.html

Writing this blog has given me wonderful reminders of very special days at home and further away...


The most popular blog posts have been about the Chelsea Flower Show, one of my favourite bookshops, the University of Leicester Botanic Garden, and posts from Australia .Mind you with posts of  pictures like this...

no wonder everyone liked vignettes from the land of sunshine back in a windswept , rain sodden English March.

Looking back at posts over the last year , I realise just how much I value the simple things in life...like lying in the garden with my dog Boo on a sunshiny day

So what's new for the blog  over the next year? Well more of the same, and many of you have told  me you like the tracks on every post....it's always good to share favourite tracks  don't you think?
I'll be doing some more travel posts too........but what would YOU like to see more of ?


Anyway, it's Friday ...I'm off to the pub for the weekly ritual of having a few glasses of wine with my favourite people , but in the meantime , I'll leave you with one of the best artists ever...one who I've loved since I was twelve years old....the one and only, the wonderful..... Jimmi Hendrix and "Happy Birthday"  

Day at the Chelsea Flower Show part 2

The Chelsea flower Show is a great British institution and justifiably so. Ideas, creativity, painstaking hard work and sheer beauty are all celebrated here every year, and everything runs like clockwork.

At least it does when you actually manage to get into the show. On Thursday, I got to Victoria to find utter chaos with the District and Circle Lines not running. So hundreds of us were squashed into  a fleet of crowded double decker buses and we all streamed in with a collective air of excitement.

All apart from one lady who was supposed to meeting her son there...and she'd left her mobile phone at home.He wasn't there...and he was the one with the tickets!

When I say it was busy there, it was heaving in the heat...swarms of people wherever I looked, marching purposefully towards the main show gardens. It was difficult to get any decent photos of the main ones..too many people standing in front of them with heads, hats and other appendages making their way into my photos.

Oh look - a head! This was the best photo I could get of one of my favourite gardens...the l'occitane garden designed by Peter Dowle. A real sense of place here, so atmospheric of southern France with its wafts of heady herb scents....and I wanted to get under the pergola and drink a glass of ice cold  rose wine. Either that or get the cheapest and fastest flight down to Nice....

I did like the Laurent Perrier garden by Arne Maynard too

 And I thought the Lands End  A rural Muse garden was delightful. From Rutland designer Adam Frost and inspired by the poet John Clare. it was an oasis of calm and shade. Again, among a throng of people all eagerly photographing and chattering away,  I wanted to push them aside , hop over the rope and force my way to under the green oak framed shelter.

I didn't get a photo of  of the lovely Doris, the caravan at the Caravan Club garden though. Standing on tiptoe,  craning my neck in the crowd to take one, I was rather close to the woman with the strangulated vowels and lots to say in front. I suddenly shot back in horror...on the crown of her head I saw nits. I kid you not. Nits......I wonder if she knew. All I knew was I wasn't going to be the one to tell her. I stepped away pretty smartish!

Talking of smart...look at this....I was rather taken with this stand...loved the huge zinc planters and water feature - perfect for a town garden. Not that I live in a town, but I did love those planters....

When I came to the conservatories and greenhouses, I was in seventh heaven. .... Spent ages in the Allitex conservatory, and even longer in one of the Hartley Botanical Victorian greenhouses. It's so me! I fell in love with it there and then, and the sales advisor did look at me strangely when I asked if I could take a photo of it, and would he mind getting out of the way.

Isn't it just beautiful? I would live in there.....I've already got the same table and chairs....and can just imagine all my plants on the staging.....

And this sculpture by Christopher Lisney rather took my fancy...and made me smile.....

So many things to see, so many tools, plants and a greenhouse to put on the wish list, and all too soon it was time to leave....not before taking a few moments to admire the perfect symmetry of the Chelsea Hospital

and try not to be distracted by more plants on the

Chelsea Flower Show.....I do love you.....

But today's track is  Songs from a secret garden......beautiful, haunting, a perfect soundtrack for a shady garden at dusk I always think....when twilight can be a time of sadness.....

A day out at the Chelsea Chelsea Flower Show Part 1

There's nothing quite like it is there? Plants, people and passion. What an invigorating, inspirational and beautiful combination.

Chelsea has it all....and as soon as I get in through the entrance my eyes are flashing right and left. This time, instead of meandering through the myriad of of stalls and show gardens willynilly, I am a woman on a mission.

I'm off to see a garden very close close to my heart....it's a garden which has triumphed over adversity, a charity garden and one which was created by friends of mine.

Dave Andrews is an old mate ...he presents the longest local radio gardening programme in the country (over forty years).Of course he hasn't been presenting it all of that time, but he's created a really good panel of experts over the years.

Dave is also involved with Rainbows, a hospice for children and young people  in Loughborough.And this year he's brought the two together to create a garden for Chelsea.Very quickly.

And when I say quickly, I mean it. Dave and his team didn't know whether they would be exhibiting until March. Yes, March! So it's been all hands to the pumps for him,  Chris Gutteridge and Ady Dayman.

The brief was to create a tranquil garden for reflection on our daily challenges or to remember a child in happier times.

The designer is Chris Gutteridge of Second Nature Gardens...he's based in leicester and a regular member of the BBC Radio Leicester Down to Earth panel. (he's also the son of a friend of mine, Alex)

And this what he and his team created....

A small garden but one which contains four amelanchier lamarckii trees for height, and a sunken bed of such pretty sweet woodruff divided by stepping stones.

Can you see the acrylic screens- well, they allow light through to create shadows and silhouettes. and there's an interactive element too. A hidden webcam can identify someone's gender and approximate age as they approach the entrance.....and appropriate images are then projected on to the screens.

I love the planting too....

Another integral part of the team  both in this garden , and as a gardening expert on local radio and television is the wonderfully irrepressible Ady Dayman. He and his family have grown all the plants in the garden

And here's Dave Andrews - who had the vision -.and I, in the garden just before nipping off for a well needed glass of Pimms ...well two actually....it was hot.

I think what they have all achieved in such a short space of time is remarkable. A garden that 's really fit for purpose , one which will bring enjoymnet for a long too, as the garden in its entirety will be taken back upto Rainbows hospice next week and installed in the hospice grounds for both children and their families to enjoy.

A wonderful visit to a tranquil garden......and it's not just me who loves it - so did the judges. So much so, they awarded the garden a silver medal!

Here's one final photo......

Obviously there was so much more to take in at Chelsea....coming up in the next post, more personal highlights from Chelsea...but in the meantime today's track is Over the Rainbow -impeccable jazz from Ben Webster....